'Villagers to be involved in loss survey'

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that distinguished villagers will also be involved in survey of losses to crops due to hailstorm to curb irregularities in the work. Chouhan was addressing farmers of Poonchhari village in Morena district on Thursday. He was accompanied by Revenue Minister Rampal Singh, Minister of State for GAD lal Singh Arya and MP Anoop Mishra.

The Chief Minister directed collectors to keep watch over survey. He said that five people of the village where survey will be undertaken will be involved in it, who will assist survey team. later, objections raised regarding survey list pasted at Gram Panchayat building will also be disposed of by the villagers included in survey team.

The Chief Minister said that Government’s top priority at present is to solve farmers’ problems in this hour of crisis. Referring to relief to affected farmers, he said that they would be given compensation of `15,000 per hectare while `26,000 per hectare relief will be given on loss of vegetable crops. 

He said that affected farmers’ short-term loans will be converted to medium-term ones and State Government will also pay interest. He said that farmers will be provided loans at zero per cent interest rate for next crop and they would not be considered defaulters.

The Chief Minister said that crop cutting exercise must be undertaken during survey so that farmers can get benefit of crop insurance. On reaching Poonchhari village, Chouhan visited fields to take stock of damage suffered by crops due to hailstorm. He inspected crop losses in the fields of Munna Gaur and Bhajju Jatav and consoled them that State Government stands by them in this hour of crisis.